


What Happened That Night

by HarmonyinDark245



Category: The Mortal Instruments Series - Cassandra Clare, The Shadowhunter Chronicles - Cassandra Clare
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, F/M, M/M, Murder Mystery, Suspense
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-12
Updated: 2020-06-21
Packaged: 2021-03-02 21:40:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 10
Words: 17,963
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24143740
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HarmonyinDark245/pseuds/HarmonyinDark245
Summary: On the busiest night of town a brutal crime has been committed and there are six suspects. None of them are innocent, but only one committed murder. Who is it? And how long will it take for the police to solve the case before all six suspects end up dead?
Relationships: Clary Fray/Jace Wayland, Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood, Simon Lewis & Isabelle Lightwood
Comments: 19
Kudos: 20





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Follow me on Tumblr @harmonyindark245 for more updates  
> Disclaimer: All Characters owned by Cassandra Clare  
> Warnings: Slight Mature Language

The six of them stood in a small circle, each terrified by their actions.

“What did you do?!” The silence was broken by the tallest of them. 

“What did I do?! I didn’t mean for this to happen!” The girl exclaimed.

“Okay, it doesn’t matter who did it, we need to get rid of everything.” The wisest of them said. 

The other girl asked with a horrified face, “Get rid, as in-”

“Yeah.” He just said. 

The four boys were about to move when the shortest girl called out. “Shouldn’t we go to the police?”

“We can’t go to the police. The only thing that will happen is that they will send us to jail.” The brown haired boy told her.

The other girl stepped in. “Maybe we can tell them it was an accident of some sort?”

All six of them look at the person lying on the ground between them. “I don’t think anyone is gonna accept the fact that it was an accident.” The smartest of them said in a grave voice. 

“We can’t just get rid of a body!” She whispered.

“No one is here. No one even knows we’re here. We can safely get out of this.” One of them said.

The shortest girl spoke up. “Two of you take care of the body. The remaining two will take care of his phone and car. The last two will go to the party and attract enough attention for people to remember they were there. Afterwards, everyone will meet up at the football field.” 

“Who made you the leader?” The tall one asked. 

The girl walked up to him and had to bend her head to look at him. She looked him dead in the eye. “Well, since this is all my fault, I’m taking charge of it.” She then turned to everyone else. “Decide what to do and do it quickly. But whatever you do, don’t screw it up.”

“We’ll get rid of the body.” Two of them chimed.

“We’ll take care of his phone and car.” The other two said.

“That leaves us to go to the party.” the last two said.

As they were all leaving the smart one said, “Make sure no one sees you. And after, we will all forget this night ever happened, understand?” They all nodded, too dumbstruck to actually form words. 

They all parted, hoping they would get away with all of it. 

Little did they know that this night was only the beginning.


	2. I Know What You Did...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: All characters belong to Cassandra Clare
> 
> Warnings: Slightly mature language
> 
> Word Count - 1.2k
> 
> The POV will mainly interchange from Clary to Jace, but we will have a few chapters with other's perspectives.
> 
> Enjoy :)

On Monday morning, Clary Morgenstern walked through her school hallways, stopping at every minute to talk to people, none of them over the high of Friday night.

On the outside, she was all laughs and smiles but on the inside, she was filled with guilt. The guilt of causing someone's death.

When she reached her locker she found her best friend Isabelle Lightwood standing there.

"Hey Izzy, what's up?" Clary asked, no hint of fear in her voice.

"Nothing yet, just wondering if you heard anything, you know, from your dad or brother." Izzy said.

Clary's father, Valentine Morgenstern was the Captain at the police precinct and her elder brother Jonathan was a police detective. Her mother had passed away when Clary was a child due to illness.

"No, neither Dad nor Jon talked to me about anything. I guess no one has officially filed a complaint." Clary told her.

Izzy let out a relieved sigh. "Then that's probably good, right? Maybe there won't even be anything and we're just being paranoid. Right?"

"Yeah. Everything's great." Clary took her books out of her locker and walked to class with Izzy.

As Clary sat down in her seat, she eyed the empty seat on her left. It seemed weird, seeing it empty. Clary didn't remember the last time it was like that. The teacher entered the class and snapped Clary out of her daze.

The entire time till lunch, Clary could barely pay attention to anything happening around her. All Clary could think of was that soon the police would come for her and her friends.

* * *

During lunchtime, Clary sat in her normal seat. Izzy was sitting in front of her and Simon was just beside Izzy. On the other side of Izzy were Magnus and Alec looked as terrified as Clary felt. Both the seats beside Clary were empty. From behind her, Jace came and sat in his seat. He had a worried look on his face.

"His mom's been calling me." Was all he said and it was all that was required to break through everyone's cool facade.

"What do you mean?" Alec asked with a hushed voice.

"I mean, that ever since it happened, his mom has been calling me." Jace replied waving his phone for everyone to see that there were three missed calls from the same number.

"You can't ignore her like that. She'll know something's wrong." Simon told Jace.

"I know Ratface. These are the ones from this morning." Jace looked at his phone thoughtfully. "She thinks he probably ran off to one of his friend's houses or something." He looked up at the group. "I told her the last time I saw him was at the football game."

"Well, that's good right, because after that we would've directly gone to the party and it would give us the perfect alibi." Clary claimed.

"Alibi? Why would we need an alibi right now? The police aren't going to be able to find anything on us, okay?" Magnus declared.

"We hid the body where no one would find it." Alec said.

Everyone widened their eyes. "Alec, don't talk about that in public!" Isabelle gritted her teeth at her twin.

Alec was about to say something when suddenly Jace's phone started ringing again.

Jace looked at it and held it up for everyone else to see.

It was the same number that had left the previous 3 missed calls.

"Pick it up." Simon urged him.

Jace looked at all of them and left to receive the call.

They all sat in silence, concentrating on their food. Clary was unable to eat anything. Her mind kept replaying Friday night.

* * *

_He pulled her back by her hair. Clary let out a strangled sound of pain._

" _Let go of her!" Jace shouted at him. She was struggling to get released from his grip. Jace moved towards them and grabbed his hand. As Jace got rid of his hand from her hair, he raised his other hand and punched Jace in the face. Jace stumbled back, losing his balance. He looked at Clary with wild eyes._

" _You freaking slut. Everytime, you said it was nothing, but it was all a lie, wasn't it?" He moved to grab Clary but she moved away and from behind Jace knocked into him, causing both of them to fall to the ground._

* * *

Clary was brought back into reality when her phone started blaring. She took it out of her bag and saw that her brother was calling her. She also got up and left the cafeteria.

"Hey Jon. What's up?"

"Nothing much Clare-bear. Just wanted to ask, are you free after school today?" There were noises coming from the background. Maybe he was out on a case or something?

"Um, yeah, Jace will just be coming over for homework, why?"

"Could you just come and pick me up from the precinct after school, my car broke down."

Clary saw Jace moving in the hallway still on the phone call.

"Sure. I'll call you, okay."

"Thanks. Bye Clare." Clary got off the phone and walked towards Jace.

"What's wrong?" She asked him gently. Jace looked up into her eyes.

"His mom is filing a missing complaint."

* * *

The rest of the day passed the same way. Clary and Jace had decided not to tell the others about the complaint until Clary could get it confirmed by her father or brother or some other way. They thought it would only cause more panic and make things worse. As of now, both of them were sitting in Clary's car, on their way to the police precinct to get her brother.

They didn't speak until Clary decided to break the silence. "Jace, please say something."

Jace continued looking out of the window.

"Come on please. I know it's all my fault but-"

"It's not." He said in a soft voice.

Clary glanced at him from the corner of her eyes. "You mean, you don't think-"

"No, I don't Clary. How can I?" He turned to look at her. "When it's all my fault."

Clary started protesting but he continued speaking, "I was the one who called you out there knowing he would get pissed off. I dragged all of you into my mess."

She put one hand over his, resting in his lap. "It's not your fault, nor is it your mess. We all screwed up. And we're going to be okay." She stopped the car outside the precinct and turned towards him. "Look, Alec assured us that no one will be able to find the body. And Alec doesn't lie, we both know that." Jace nodded. "Just calm down. Otherwise people are gonna get suspicious."

Clary took her phone out and saw that she had two new messages. One was from Jonathan telling her to meet him inside the precinct once she arrives. The other was from a blocked number. When Clary read the message she widened her eyes and brought her hand up to her mouth. Jace gave her a puzzled look and took Clary's phone from her hand.

_**Your actions from Friday night,** _

_**Have not gone unseen.** _

_**I know what you did…** _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So that was the first chapter.
> 
> Any guesses on who died? Or maybe who the murderer is? (It is honestly way too early for even guessing)


	3. How 'Bout That Alibi?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: All characters belong to Cassandra Clare  
> The scenes in italics are flashbacks and I have purposely avoided using any male pronouns so as to not cause confusion between the characters and the actual 'victim'. It'll be much more understandable once the identity is revealed.  
> Warnings: Slight mature language  
> Word Count - 1.3k  
> Enjoy :)

Clary walked into the precinct, avoiding as many people as possible.

The message she had gotten before had completely shocked her. She froze while Jace tried to message the person to know who it was.

She hadn't gotten any messages or calls from the others, which clearly meant they hadn't gotten any messages like Clary had. Jace hadn't gotten any either. The message could easily mean something else. Maybe they saw Clary doing something at the party or maybe they saw her with Jace and thought that she was cheating on her boyfriend. It didn't necessarily mean that it was regarding the murder.

Clary walked further into the precinct until she could see her brother's desk.

Jonathan was sitting on his desk typing into his computer as someone was speaking in front of him. She couldn't clearly see whom he was listening to. She started to move towards him when someone put a hand on her shoulder.

Clary whirled around to find her father's oldest friends, Stephen Herondale and Luke Garroway standing behind her.

"Hey Clary, what are you doing here?" Stephen asked her.

"Um, I could ask you guys the same thing." Clary replied like an idiot.  _ Great. _

Both of them gave her a confused look.

Luke pointed towards himself and said, "Well, I work here so I have to be here." Then he pointed towards Stephen and said, "He's here, because he was called over for a new case." Oh, right, Clary thought. Jace's father was the DA.

"I'm here-" She was cut off by her brother.

"To pick up her very careless brother." Jon came up from behind her and pulled her in for a hug. She tensed a bit but Jon didn't notice.

Clary smiled back at them enthusiastically. "Well not all of us can be the better child now, can we?"

All of them smiled at her. "Okay, let's go otherwise Jace is going to bite my head off for leaving him alone in the car for too long." She told Jonathan.

Stephen's smile faltered a bit. "Oh, Jace is here?"

"Yeah. We're gonna do homework together. We do it all the time."

"I know. But, is he okay? He's been acting kind of weird and jumpy since Friday." Stephen said.

"Oh, I don't know. I haven't seen any change in him. Maybe it's just because of his win on Friday? The game and the party after that was pretty intense." Clary suggested, knowing exactly why Jace was behaving the way he was.

"It must've been. A kid went missing after the game." Jon said from beside Clary.

"Missing?" Luke asked.

"Yeah, I was just with the kid's mother and a friend. Both of them say they haven't seen him since the game."

Mother and friend? "Who is missing?" Clary asked, trying not to give away anything from her voice.

"Senior named Jordan Kyle. Did you know him, Clare?"

Clary felt her heart stop. "Yeah, I knew him." Clary said in a meek voice.

"Sorry kiddo. Don't worry, we'll find him okay." Jon said apologetically.

"Okay." Clary said. "Why don't you go get your stuff and I'll wait in the car with Jace."

Clary bid goodbye to Stephen and Luke and walked back to her car. Jace was sitting with his seat leaned back and the music turned on loudly. Clary hurried and sat in the car, clutching the steering wheel so tightly, her knuckles turned white.

"Clary, what happened?" Jace asked.

She turned to look at him with terror visible in her eyes.

"Jordan's been declared missing."

" _ Jace get the hell off of me!" He screamed. Jace was trying to calm him down, but Jace knew it was of no use. Jace knew it was a mistake to be out there. Jace could feel something wrong was about to happen. _

_ But Jace needed to talk to Clary and the Institute was the best place to meet secretly. Unfortunately, Jace never thought that he would follow Clary. _

_ Jace would've normally kept himself cool and controlled, however, when he pulled Clary by her hair, Jace had lost it. After that, Jace didn't care about anything, only the fact that he hurt Clary. He hurt Jace's Clary. _

_ All of Jace's feelings came barreling down. How Jace lost Clary because of him. How Clary started avoiding Jace because of him. How Jace lost the most important person in Jace's life, only because of him. _

After dropping Jonathan off at his apartment, Clary didn't take them back to her house. Instead, she took both of them to the park they used to play at when they were kids.

Jace remembered how their mother's would bring them there every evening to play. After her mother's death, Clary had stopped coming to the park. Jace had dragged her out of her room and took her to the park. Jace continued doing this till Clary no longer protested.

Clary got out of the car and walked towards a bench placed in front of an artificial pond. Even though the pond was artificial, there were real ducks that used to wander around. Jace had sacrificed himself at the mercy of those ducks to make Clary laugh.

Jace sat down beside her and waited for her to say something. When she finally did, it was not what he had expected. "Your dad thinks something's wrong." She said while staring at the horizon.

"Where did you meet my dad?" Jace asked, perplexed.

"He was at the precinct." She said without looking towards Jace. "He's a goddamn lawyer, Jace. It's literally his job to find out who's guilty. You need to be smart around him."

"Well, what about you? Literally everyone in your house is a cop."

"I am being smart. It's not my family that's asking if I'm okay, is it?" She snapped. She paused and then said, "That sounded way sadder than I intended it too." Then both of them looked at each other and started laughing. Jace slid closer to Clary and caught hold of her hands. Clary stopped laughing and hastily removed her hands from his. "Jace, please don't."

"Come on Clary, you can't-"

"This is what caused all of it." She stood up and moved back.

"So you mean to say that we can't be friends. Just because one idiot thought it wasn't 'proper'?" Jace stood up as well.

"I wouldn't have cared either, but now that so-called idiot, is dead. Because of us."

Jace had no reply to that. All he said was, "Are you gonna tell the others?"

Clary nodded. "I messaged them in the group to meet us here. They should be arriving." She turned and started looking at the horizon again.

Jace just sat down on the bench and clasped his hands together, leaning forward with both his elbows resting on his legs. He couldn't lose Clary. Not again.

The other four reached in about ten minutes. Each had dropped their own plans to meet up. Jace noticed how each face told completely different stories from that night.

"Why have you called us all here?" Alec asked Clary.

Even though Clary was the shortest, out of all of them, she was the scariest. She walked up to the middle and said, "Jordan Kyle has officially been declared missing by the Alicante PD."

Izzy gasped while Alec shouted, "What?". Magnus put his hand on his forehead and Simon just stood there blinking.

"His mother and a friend were the ones to complain." Clary told them all.

Izzy's eyes blazed. "Ugh. God! That friend is most definitely Maia. She wasn't even in class today."

Jace's eyes widened as he realised something.

"Jace, what is it?" Alec asked him.

"On Friday, just before I left for The Institute, Maia came up to congratulate me or something and she mentioned something about seeing Clary leave with Jordan." He looked towards Clary who had just closed her eyes.

"The fact that she hates you doesn't help, Clary." Simon pointed out.

"And by that, she's probably gonna find a way to involve all of us into this too." Izzy said worriedly.

Clary just looked up at Magnus and smirked. "An alibi seems pretty useful now, doesn't it?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Is Jordan dead or just missing? And what is Maia's role in all of this?  
> Hope you all liked it :) :)


	4. Into The Dumspter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: All characters belong to Cassandra Clare  
> Warnings: Slight mature language  
> Word Count - 1.4k  
> Enjoy :)

"We shouldn't be worried, right?" Izzy said as they all sat in the Lightwood's living room, the next day after school. Their parents had gone out of town for business so it was safe to discuss these matters in their house. 

"We can't afford to panic like that. We don't know anything yet. There's a huge possibility that they won't even link Jordan's disappearance to us." Magnus said. 

Alec sat with his head in his hands. "What if they do? And what if they find out what we did that night?" 

Jace groaned. "Alec, stop being so negative. They won't find anything. And about Jordan, we'll see how that goes."

Alec started to protest but Jace cut him off. "We didn't do anything Alec. Stop freaking out." 

Alec slumped down on the couch. Jace looked towards the corner where Clary was sitting in silence. She hadn't said a word since they left the park. Jace _hated_ that he couldn't help her. They had known each other since they were born, their parents being friends way before that. She was the one girl he truly loved, but he couldn't even be with her. 

He was always too scared to tell her and when he finally worked up the courage, she had told him that his best friend had asked her out. She was so happy and excited that he could only be happy for her and live with it. 

**\-----------------------**

Alec was terrified. That was the only word to express how he felt. He shouldn’t have even been involved in any of this. But he had to protect his sister and his friend’s no matter how dangerous it was. 

At the moment he was in the kitchen, while everyone else was in the living room. He needed time to actually think about what had happened that night. All he remembered was getting a message on the group from Jace to meet him at the Institute. 

Alec should’ve known then that something wrong was going to happen. What else did anyone expect from a shut down insane asylum? There was also the other fact that Alec was very drunk because he had just got accepted in the same college as his boyfriend, Magnus, and his team had also won their last game of the season. 

After all that, it was just a random blur. Both of them getting the message, driving to the Institute, finding the other four people fighting one person and then watching that person die. 

It was that one thing that was needed to sober him up. 

**\----------------------------------------**

_Alec’s eyes were wide with horror as he took in the scene in front of him._

_“Holy shit.” Magnus said from beside him._

_Blood had started pooling on the floor, probably coming from his head. Alec had entered in time to see the last blow._

_They all start fighting with each other when finally Clary stood up and ordered everyone with tasks. Alec ended up having to dispose of the body with Simon. They had managed to drag the body into Simon’s beat up van. It had started raining really heavily and both of them were drenched._

_About 20 minutes in silence, Simon spoke up._

_“So,” Simon started. He was driving, so he was looking ahead. “Even though it’s not in the perfect circumstances, we finally got to hang out, huh? Izzy’s been wanting this forever.”_

_Alec ignored him and continued looking out of the window. Simon shifted a bit in his seat. “Listen, I really love Isabelle and am serious about our relationship.”_

_Alec turned to look at Simon with a murderous look in his eyes. “I am not going to talk to you about my sister while we have a dead body in the back!” He said in a deadly way._

_Simon shut up and frowned visibilly. “Look man, I know this is all shitty, but I just wanted to lighten the mood.”_

_“Well, you can lighten up the mood by getting rid of him.” Alec pointed towards the back._

_Simon stopped the car in front of an alley. “We can drop him off here.”_

_Alec looked at Simon with incredulity. “Wouldn’t someone easily find him here?”_

_“Simon got out of the car and Alec followed. “We’ll throw him into the dumpster.” When Alec didn’t say anything, Simon sighed and explained, “This alley is the main place where the kids from our school get drugs and shit. Things happen here all the time.”_

_Alec nodded his head. “Yeah, this is perfect. It’s raining, so all of our DNA would get washed off and if we’re lucky, they’d incinerate the garbage before anyone realises he’s missing.”_

_Both Simon and Alec lifted the body and brought it towards the dumpster. They dumped the body and closed the lid. After that, both of them left quickly and wore their letterman jackets over their blood covered shirts. Soon, they reached the school where half of the party was happening._

**\-----------------------------------------**

“Hey are you okay?” Alec snapped his head up to see Magnus standing at the entrance of the kitchen. He had a rueful smile on his face. 

“No, Magnus, I’m not. I’m scared that the police would find the body and instantly find us.” Magnus didn’t say anything. He just moved towards Alec and hugged him. 

“It’s going to be okay. It’s possible that the police won’t find anything, okay. Just look at the positives.” Alec looked at Magnus for a long time. His smile was now a sad one. 

“I’m just happy that we’re here, together.” 

“Me too, Alexander.” Magnus said with a smile. Just then Simon’s voice came from the living room. 

“Alec! Come out, you need to see this!” Both Alec and Magnus rushed towards the living room. All of them had different expressions on their face, but they were all watching the T.V. The news channel was on and the lady on screen was talking about the police investigating a missing teenager’s case and in bold red words, it was written on the screen, 

**“Dead body found in an alley dumpster”**

Alec didn’t hesitate before rushing towards Simon. He held onto his collar as Magnus and Izzy tried to break them apart. 

“You utter idiot! You said no one would find the body!” Alec snarled.

Simon was trying to pry off Alec’s hands as he told him, “I never said that! I said that if someone found it, they wouldn’t be able to directly link it to us.”

Jace pulled Alec off of Simon as he said, “You guys hid him in the dumpster near the drug alley?”

“Yeah, but only because dumbass here thought it would be safe.” Alec pointed out.

Jace looked back to where Clary was sitting frozen, paying no attention to anything. “Well, it was a smart move, because they won’t suspect us for a while.” 

From behind Izzy spoke up, “But they can’t identify the body. Why is that? We didn’t disfigure his face or anything.”

“Well, he was dead, so he would have started decomposing and considering it was a dumpster, there could’ve been rats or some other animals.” Magnus said with uncertainty. 

At that, Clary jumped up with wide eyes and rushed out of the room. Jace was about to follow her when Magnus stopped him and shaked his head. After that, Magnus himself went after Clary. 

**\---------------------------------------------------**

Jace couldn’t do anything as he saw Clary run from the room. Magnus had stopped him from going after her as well. 

When they first heard the news, Clary had become catatonic. Jace tried to get her to talk, tried to comfort her, but nothing worked. Even now, he couldn’t comfort her. Jace had never felt more like a failure.

Izzy was checking over Simon and Alec was standing in the corner, silently fuming. Jace thought it was unfair that everyone else was involved in Jace’s mistake. But he was secretly glad that he had accidentally sent a message to the group, rather than Clary personally to meet him at the Institute. Who knows what would’ve happened if they wouldn’t have been there. 

Jace was lost in his own thoughts when Alec suddenly called out to him. 

“Jace…” He said warily while looking into his phone. “I think you need to see this.” 

Jace walked up beside Alec, Izzy and Simon were also paying attention to them.

Alec showed his phone to Jace and for the millionth time that week, Jace felt his heart stop.

_**Next time, look around before throwing someone into the dumpster.** _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I might be factually wrong about the football season thing, but the timeline is around the first week of May.  
> All six of them are 18 (legal adults) and will be graduating by the end of the month.


	5. Who Died?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: All characters belong to Cassandra Clare
> 
> Warnings: Slight Mature Language
> 
> Word Count - 1.6k
> 
> Enjoy!

Magnus couldn't help but feel bad for Clary. He knew that everyone was going through a lot, but apparently it was Clary who was going through the most. She had run into the bathroom and had puked her guts out. Maybe Magnus shouldn't have told them why the face would've been unidentifiable.

He waited beside the sink as Clary leaned against the wall of the bathroom.

"You didn't have to come here." She rasped.

"I know biscuit, but I wanted to." He sat down beside her. "How are you holding up?"

"He was found in a dumpster and his face was probably eaten off by rodents." She looked up at Magnus with tears in her eyes. "He might've been a bad person, but even he didn't deserve that kind of death."

Magnus rubbed soothing circles into her back. "We can't change what happened. Just learn to live with it."

Clary looked up at him. "How are you Magnus?"

Magnus sighed. "I'm trying to be strong for everyone. But it's kind of difficult with all of you being so sure that you're gonna end up in jail."

Clary laughed humorlessly. "Isn't it funny how this is the second time we've ended up like this?" Magnus knew she was talking about the party from that night. Magnus recalled that night which he had tried so hard to forget.

* * *

_Magnus and Clary were at the party. Everyone was busy getting drunk and celebrating that no one noticed Magnus and Clary standing in the corner away from everyone. It was a good thing, otherwise everyone would've known something was wrong with how Magnus was wearing a black colored jacket over his outfit and also how Clary was barely breathing._

_She suddenly jerked upright and ran off. Magnus hurried to follow her. She ran into the washroom and started vomiting. Magnus decided to give her some space. After she was done, she splashed water on her face and leaned against the sink. Magnus could see her reflection in the mirror. Her eyes were closed and her face was paler than usual._

_She looked at her hands and then instantly turned the tap on and was scrubbing them manically. There were tears falling on her cheeks and the blood was turning slightly pink._

_Magnus moved towards her and pulled her back. "Clary! What the hell are you doing?" That was enough to make her lose it. She started sobbing. He pulled her back into him and hugged her as tightly as possible._

" _Shh. It's going to be okay. It's going to be okay."_

_Clary nodded her head and she suddenly froze. After that she bent down and retched again._

_Clary looked up at Magnus with terrified eyes. He understood what she was trying to tell him and was shocked._

" _Clary?" As tears welled up in her eyes, he bent down to hug her once again. "Oh Biscuit."_

* * *

"Don't you dare tell us to calm down Jace!" Simon's voice was loud and clear even inside the bathroom. Magnus left Clary to wash up and went out into the living room where Alec was just looking into his phone and Simon and Izzy were standing in front of Jace in a defensive way. Magnus beelined for Alec and looked at his phone. Magnus read the message and didn't know how to respond.

The only thing in his mind was that someone knew that Alec was involved in the dumping of the body.

Simon looked as if he was debating on punching Jace even if it meant suicide.

Just then Clary entered the room, no sign of tears visible on her face. "What the hell is going on here?!" She ordered.

Alec snapped up and looked towards Clary. "Well look who finally decided to join us." He said in a cold voice.

"Alec don't." Jace said in the same cold voice.

Alec shook his head and scoffed. "Unbelievable. You're all still taking her side." Then he looked at Clary dead in the eye. "Someone knows that I was the one that hid the body. Just got a message. The police should also be arriving shortly. If you want you could run away and we'll once again take the fall for your mistakes."

Izzy stepped up "Alec you can't say that to her."

"No Izzy. I can. She's not the one getting messages is she? And it's her fault we're in this mess in the first place!"

"Alec that's enough!" Jace shouted. Silence fell over the room. "She got a message yesterday, just before we found out about Jordan. It said that the person knew what we did on Friday."

Simon looked baffled. "And you decided to tell us now?!"

Clary sat down on the sofa and took in a deep breath. It was obvious that she was completely exhausted. Magnus wondered why no one else noticed the difference in her.

"Because it's just someone trying to spook us. If this person actually knew anything, they would've told the police." Clary said.

"Why would the police be searching near the drug alley in the first place? Obviously, this person told them about it." Simon said.

Clary put a hand on her head. "They're investigating a missing teenager. And it's Jordan! He practically lived there. That is definitely where they'd go searching for him."

Alec shook his head with a sardonic smile. "Well, I don't think they found what they were looking for, huh?"

"The best thing for us to do now is act as if we aren't bothered by it." Clary reasoned.

"But we are bothered by it." Alec said. Then he pointed towards Clary. "This is all on you. If you wouldn't have acted like a little slut, none of us would've been in this mess." Izzy gasped and Clary flinched.

"Alec," Izzy started, "That's not fair. You knew better than any of us that he was a monster."

Alec didn't listen; he just looked at Clary. "If we get through all of this, I just hope you have to live with it throughout your life."

Clary instantly got up and marched towards the door. She turned back once and glanced at Jace for a prolonged period of time and then looked towards Alec. "Congratulations Alec, I already know that I'll have to live the reminder throughout my life." And she walked out the door leaving everyone stunned.

As soon as Clary left, Jace dragged Magnus into the kitchen where no one could hear them.

"Hey man, be careful, you'll crease my shirt." Jace looked at him and Magnus rolled his eyes. "It's a designer."

"And I care so much." Jace said sarcastically.

"You should. With a physique like yours, the right type of clothes would do wonders." Magnus said nonchalantly.

"Wonders? I don't need anything. I'm already gorgeous. And stop stalling." Jace said.

Magnus looked at him with a confused face. "What do you mean?"

Jace ran a hand through his hair aggravatedly. "You know what I mean. What's going on with Clay?" Before Magnus could say anything, Jace continued. "And don't you dare say that you don't know. Because it's really obvious that you do."

"I wasn't going to say that, you dimwit. I was going to say that whatever it is, you should ask Clary about it."

"She won't even talk to me." Jace said as he leaned against the counter.

"I'm sorry, Jace, but it's something you need to talk to her about. I have no right to tell you one of her secrets." Jace just sighed and walked out of the room. As he passed the living room, he saw Alec sitting on the sofa with Izzy beside him, trying to make him see sense. Alec looked up and his blue eyes met with Jace's golden ones. Both were cold and distant, completely different from how they looked at each other before shit went down. Jace just went out of the house and drove back home, trying not to think about what Clary was hiding from him.

* * *

Clary was sitting in Calculus class barely paying attention to the teacher.

It had been two days since Alec had gotten the message and Clary had avoided him and the others as much as possible. She had also distanced herself from Jace, but that had started way before the incident.

There weren't any updates on the body that the police found and luckily, no one had gotten any more cryptic messages.

Clary looked down into her notebook to see what she had doodled.

It was a sketch of six people standing over a dead body. She instantly closed her book and started taking deep breaths.

"Clarissa Morgernstern." Clary looked up to see her teacher holding a note in her hand and someone standing at the door. "You've been called to the Principal's office. And take your bag with you."

Everyone was looking at Clary and from the front of the class she could feel Jace's gaze piercing into her. She quickly packed everything and followed the person outside the class. She was led into the principal's office where she found her brother.

"Jonathan?" He looked towards Clary and gave her a small smile.

"Clarissa, please take a seat." Her principal told her. She sat down beside her brother, who had turned towards her. Her principal started to speak. "I'm sure you've heard in the news that the police have found a body." Clary just nodded.

"Well, it was a student from our school and the police need to interrogate a few people who were close to that student."

Clary's throat went dry. She furrowed her eyebrows. "I need to be interrogated?" She looked towards Jon. "You're gonna interrogate me?"

Jonathan nodded. "Yeah, it's just a routine interrogation, you know, looking into all leads. You're not in trouble or anything." She looked at her principal then back at Jonathan.

"Who died?" She had a pretty good idea who it was, but she still needed to act oblivious.

Jonathan looked at her and said ruefully. "Jordan Kyle."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soooo, Jordan is dead. Don't worry, there are still many twists and turns remaining.
> 
> I know that Alec is acting like a complete douchebag, but I assure you, he has a good reason to behave the way he is behaving.
> 
> Any idea why Jordan was killed? And what are Clary and Magnus hiding?


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: All characters belong to Cassandra Clare
> 
> Warnings: Slight Mature Language
> 
> Word Count - 1.6k
> 
> Enjoy!

Clary was frozen to her seat. Her heart had stopped for a second and then instantly sped up in horror and confusion.

"Jordan's d-dead?" She stuttered. Both Jonathan and the principal shared a look.

"Yeah, he was reported missing on Monday by his mom and his best friend, Maia. She said that the last time she saw Jordan, it was with you."

Clary just nodded. "Um, yeah. I left the party on Friday with him. I didn't have my car and he offered to drop me."

Jonathan rested his elbows on his legs. "And he directly dropped you home? No stops in the middle?"

She shook her head, "No. I wasn't feeling that well so he directly took me home."

Jonathan furrowed his eyebrows. "Did he have his phone when he dropped you?"

"I guess, I'm not sure. Why?"

He looked at her as if he were deciding if he should tell her or not. In the end he did. "The last known location of his phone was near the dumpster where we found him. However, his phone wasn't there when searched." He released a long breath. "I think that's all. You can go now, kay." He then turned towards her principal. "And thank you for allowing me to take up some of your time." They shook hands and then Jon ushered Clary out of the room.

Neither of them said anything as they walked through the empty hallways. Soon the bell would ring and everyone would be out for lunch.

Jonathan stopped and turned towards Clary. "You knew Jordan pretty well, right?"

Clary shrugged, not knowing how to answer. "You could say that, I guess."

"Do you know anything about his death?" He questioned her bluntly.

She widened her eyes at him. "No. I didn't even know he was dead until you told me."

The bell rang loudly, declaring lunch and within seconds, students started pouring out into the halls.

Jonathan looked at her in the way that said he knew she was hiding something. Without saying anything, he turned and walked out of the building.

Clary turned the other way, going in search of someone else.

* * *

Isabelle sat in her normal seat, at her normal table in the cafeteria. She was sitting between Alec and Simon, both looking as if they committed a crime. Okay, maybe they had, but they didn't need to show it on their faces.

She dumped her juice bottle on the table loudly and sighed. "You know, you both have more chances of getting caught if you display your guilt on your faces." She hissed at them. They looked at her angrily.

She shrugged. "Just saying. You guys need to remain chill and cool. Like me."

Simon narrowed his eyes at her. "Bullshit. There is no way in hell that you are not freaking out." Izzy just shrugged again and took a sip from her juice.

"Then why are you wearing long sleeves? It's the starting of summer and you have never worn long sleeves in summer before." Alec challenged.

Simon's eyes widened. "Isn't that where-"

"Yes." She said in a low voice.

Alec looked confused. "Isn't that where, what?"

Isabelle shook her head. "It's nothing." She ignored the face her brother made and continued eating her lunch.

* * *

_Jace was driving the car as fast as he could in the rain. Isabelle was sitting beside him in the passenger seat clutching a phone in her hand that wasn't her own. She looked straight ahead at the rain pouring down on the windshield as the wipers were wiping it._

_Splash. Wipe. Splash. Wipe. Splash. Wipe._

" _Where should we go Izzy?" Jace broke her out of her daze. She looked at him and blinked, trying to think of an answer._

" _I don't know." Came out a broken voice._

_It took her a few moments to realise that it was her own. She had never heard her own voice so broken._

_Jace looked at her, then looked down at her wounded arm. "It's okay. We'll just throw the phone out of the car, okay. Then, we'll take you to get bandaged up and after that, I'll just drop you home."_

_Izzy nodded her head in agreement. "Okay, Izzy, now I'm gonna open your side of the window and I want you to throw the phone away, as far as you can, do you understand?" He said slowly, as if he were talking to a child._

_Izzy nodded once again and looked at the phone she was clutching. Just then a message popped up on the phone._

_**Aline - Hey, you still at the party?** _

_A few moments later, the phone started ringing._

_Izzy widened her eyes and turned it off as soon as she could. Jace had opened the window and Izzy threw it out. She didn't even turn to look as she rolled the window back up._

_Jace didn't say anything, knowing that she obviously needed time to calm down._

_Soon they pulled up at the hospital. Jace guided Izzy into the ER._

_By the time Izzy had become aware of her surroundings, both of them were already in a room waiting for someone to attend them._

_Jace was sitting on a sofa towards the wall beside the bed. "Jace, what happened today?"_

_He looked up at her and hesitantly asked, "You don't remember?"_

_Despite herself, Izzy rolled her eyes. "No, I mean, what happened to you? You literally went hulk on him."_

_Jace averted his eyes as he said, "He hurt Clary." He had said it so softly, Izzy thought she had imagined it. But when he looked up, she could see a mix of anger and sadness visible in his eyes._

_Her expression softened. "You love her." It wasn't a question._

_He shook his head and rested it on his hands. "More than I should."_

" _Have you talked to her?"_

" _I can't. I've already screwed it up."_

" _What do you mean?" She furrowed her eyebrows at him._

_He released a sigh in defeat and looked up at her. His eyes were moist and red-rimmed. "About two months ago, Clary's dad was gone for the weekend and Jonathan was caught up in police work, so she wanted me to stay over because she felt scared all alone."_

" _That was the one when she was on a break with-"_

" _That one exactly." He closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the wall. "We watched some movie in her room, sitting together on the bed and at that moment, she looked so mesmerizing, I couldn't help but kiss her. Then, somehow that kiss became much more and when we actually came back to our senses, it was already morning."_

_Izzy's expression softened, sympathetically. "Oh, Jace."_

" _That's not even the worst part Izzy. We spent the entire Saturday together, in our own little bubble of happiness. Sunday morning, he came knocking on her door accepting his mistakes and everything." He wiped a tear that had fallen. "She didn't even look at me before going to him. Ever since, she's been avoiding me. And I don't know how to make it better, Iz."_

" _Jace-" Izzy started, but the doctor had entered and started checking her arm._

After a while, the doctor questioned. " _How did this happen? It seems like a pretty deep knife cut."_

_Izzy waved it off with a smile, "Oh it was just a bitch fight. Nothing much."_

_The doctor regarded her carefully and then turned towards Jace to say, "I've wrapped it all up, and she's already had her tetanus shot, so that won't be required for now. Just ensure it doesn't get wet and bring her back to get her bandages changed next week." The doctor left and both of them walked back to the car._

_They sat in silence, when Jace spoke up, "Please don't tell Clary that you know."_

_Izzy covered her hand over Jace's. "Of course I won't. But you need to talk about it."_

_Jace laughed humorlessly. "It'd be perfect. Go and tell her that you love her exactly after you kill her boyfriend. Nice."_

_Izzy's breath got caught in her throat. "But you didn't kill him." She said it so softly, she barely heard herself. "I did."_

_Jace snapped his head towards Izzy and she saw sympathy in his eyes. "Iz, you did nothing. Now go up to your room, change into your pyjamas or whatever you wear at night, put on some random romcom and forget everything." Izzy looked out of the window to realise they were parked in front of her house. "Hell, eat an entire tub of ice cream if you want. But just don't think about what happened, okay."_

" _But what about the car?"_

" _Leave that to me. You go."_

_Isabelle obediently got out of the car and walked into her house without looking back at Jace._

_She changed into a tank top and shorts, sat in her room with something already playing on tv and indulged in dark chocolate ice cream. And she didn't think about the night at all._

* * *

Jace came and sat down in front of Izzy, looking more distraught than usual.

"You okay?" She asked him.

He rolled his eyes. "Aline's throwing a party this saturday and apparently, 'attendance is mandatory'" He said making quotation marks with his hands.

"Aline Penhallow? She's throwing a party?" Simon asked.

"And what would she do if someone didn't go?" Alec chimed in. They all looked at him. "What? She is kind of terrifying."

"Yeah, well I bet she gets it from her cousin." Izzy said while getting up from her seat with her tray. From behind she could hear one of them coughing really loudly.

As she dumped the contents of her tray into the garbage can, her phone chimed with a new message. She slung her bag over her shoulder and walked out of the cafeteria. She opened her phone and read the message she got from a blocked number.

_**I'll do to you what you did to me.** _

_**Let's meet at the party.** _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: For the next chapter, do you guys want some nice and sweet Clace or an angst ridden chapter? Comment and let me know!
> 
> So we get to see Izzy's perspective after the incident, Clary gets interrogated questioned by her own brother. And the threat in the end!
> 
> Do you think Izzy will still go to the party, after receiving a death threat?
> 
> And any theories on what could've happened the night of the murder?


	7. What If He's Alive?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All characters belong to Cassandra Clare
> 
> Warnings: Slight Mature Language
> 
> Word Count - 3.4 k
> 
> Enjoy!!

Jace had just left the cafeteria when a small figure barrelled into him. When he saw a flash of red hair, he didn't stop himself before wrapping his arms around her.

"Clary?" He asked with hesitation. In the morning when Jace had offered to drive Clary to school, she had declined and slammed the door on his face.

She broke apart instantly and dragged him out to the side of the building. It reeked with the smell of smoke. Students usually went there to smoke or do drugs or whenever someone was skipping class. It was empty at the moment.

Clary looked at him frantically. He reached out and tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear. "What's wrong?" He asked softly.

"JonwashereandnowJordanisdead." She said in a single breath.

Jace blinked. "I'm sorry, repeat?"

Clary took in a deep breath. "Jon was here. He said that the body they found in the dumpster was Jordan's."

Jace widened his eyes. "What do you mean the body was his? And Jon came here to tell you that?"

Clary shook her head, panic-stricken. "He came to ask me about that night. Maia told him that she saw him leaving the party with me."

"What did you tell him?" He questioned her.

"Nothing, just that I wasn't feeling well and he offered to drop me home." She folded her hands across her chest.

Jace ran his hand over his face. "How the hell did they find Jordan's body in the dumpster? And within a day?"

"Jon said that they tracked his phone to that alley. They couldn't find his phone, though." Clary said as she held her head with her hand.

"He knows that I had something to do with this Jace. Otherwise, he wouldn't have come here." Her voice was shaking.

"You can't know that Clary. You're probably just seeing way into it."

"I'm not! Okay? I know it from the way he looked at me. It was the same look he gets whenever he's suspicious of something."

Jace looked at her. She seemed paler than usual and appeared sick. "Clary, are you okay?" He asked her, removing her hand and covering it with his own.

She looked into his eyes, filled with tears. "I'm fine." She said softly and turned to walk away. Jace instantly grabbed hold of her hand.

"Don't fucking lie to me, Clary! Do you really think I can't see how messed up you are?" He shouted. She whipped her head around and glared at him, her eyes spewing hate.

"You know what Jace, you're right. I am fucking lying. I am not fine _at all_. But what are _you_ going to do about it, huh?"

Jace's eyes softened as he turned her towards him. He held both of her hands. "I'll make it fine. I'll fix whatever problem you have." He told her.

Clary started shaking her head, a tear escaping from her eye. "You can't make it fine Jace. You can't fix this." She dropped her hands from his and walked away, leaving him behind feeling powerless, once again.

* * *

Clary didn't return to class after her talk with Jace. Discussion. Fight. She didn't even know anymore. She had felt so emotionally and physically drained, she went to the one place where she felt calm and that was the art room.

She was sitting with her sketchbook in front of her, a charcoal pencil in her hand and another pencil tied up with her hair. As soon as she had dropped down in her seat, her hand had started moving of its own accord. Clary felt free and detached from the world in that empty room. She had her earbuds in and had forgotten about the world. At that moment, it was just Clary, her art and music.

That was until someone hit her on the head. She whirled around to see Maia standing in front of her with her hands crossed over her chest. Maia looked over her head to see the sketch.

"Nice sketch Shorty." Clary looked over at what she drew. There was a girl holding a small baby close to her chest and protecting it from swirls of darkness surrounding them. "Relating images to real life now, are we?" She said in a cold voice.

At Clary's shocked expression, she just laughed. "Oh, yeah. I know about the little demon growing inside of you."

Clary's hand instinctively went to her stomach. Maia saw her and made a twisted face. She then moved towards Clary and gripped her hand roughly. "It's his isn't it? That's why you probably killed him. Or maybe it's someone else's and you just wanted to trap him because that pathetic boytoy of yours wouldn't help." Clary struggled to let go but Maia's grip was strong.

"Let go of me!" Clary shrieked but Maia didn't listen. She slammed her back into the table and slapped her. Maia looked at her with wild eyes.

"I will kill you both." She snarled. From behind her, she held up an art spatula. Clary widened her eyes and started thrashing. Just when Maia was about to stab Clary, she was pulled away by someone and Clary was released.

She couldn't hear anything as she spiralled down her own thoughts. She slumped down to the floor and held her knees and was rocking herself, repeating the same thing she always used to say when he used to hit her. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry." She mumbled. _I won't see him again. I'll stay away from Jace. "_ Just please don't hit me."

* * *

Alec looked at the girl in front of him. She was curled up in a small ball and was mumbling the same thing again and again.

 _I'm sorry._ And _Please don't hit me again._ She was trembling with fear. Maia had run away when he had gotten her off of Clary.

He knelt beside her and moved his hand towards her. She flinched and Alec's eyes widened as he realised what it could've meant. "He used to hit you?" Alec asked, voice filled with cold rage.

Clary looked up at him and nodded. "How much of it did you hear?" She rasped

Alec gave her a rueful smile, "I heard enough." Clary groaned and hung her head between her knees. "I'm guessing it's not Jordan's." She shook her head in declination.

"He knew, didn't he? That's why he tried to attack you?" She nodded her head once again. Alec had been feeling guilty since he had blamed Clary for everything that had happened. _Damn it. He had even said that he hoped she would be stuck with it for her entire life._ If they would've listened to her that night, maybe they wouldn't have been in this mess. They could've gone to the police and told them it was an accident. But they had to act like geniuses.

"Please don't tell Jace. Or anyone. Only Magnus knows." She told him in a little voice. Alec moved towards her and hugged her. "Jace is going to be heartbroken that you didn't tell him." He felt Clary stiffen. He looked down at her, her eyes looking downward at her shoes. "Don't feel guilty, it's your life but as your best friend, he should know. He could help you figure it out." Alec laughed as he said, "You know, he might even tell everyone that it's his kid to help you out." Clary's eyes snapped up to meet his. "Do NOT tell Jace, _at all._ He can not know about this." She said, her voice still sounding broken.

"Okay Clary." His voice softened. "But you will have to tell him sooner or later." He got up and helped her as well. "Come on let's go."

"Go where?" She asked.

Alec smiled at her. "School's over. Go home." He moved ahead and then paused to turn back and say, "I'm sorry for blaming you for everything. I didn't actually mean any of that."

She packed her stuff and smiled sadly at him, looking much better than before. "You were right, though." She stalked ahead, moving through the crowd.

* * *

Jace was sitting in his entertainment room, some show playing on the T.V, some random song playing on his speakers and he himself was playing a game on his phone.

"Jace, what the hell are you doing?" Came a voice from the doorway. His father was leaning against the door, his tie loosened and sleeves rolled up to his forearms.

Jace got up from the couch and strolled towards the speaker, turning it off. "Just enjoying the privileges of my home before my wretched father sends me away to college."

Stephen smirked at him and crossed his arms over his chest. "If I remember correctly, it was you who had opted for a college miles away. I told you to join the one in Alicante. I went there and look where I am now."

"The fucking DA, who is exhausted on a daily basis, and fights with people in a place where he can't even say fuck." Jace tapped his chin and pretended to think. "Yeah, I don't think so."

"Jace, no lawyer can say fuck in the courtroom." Stephen stated.

"Then I shall raise a motion against that when I become one." Jace simply said.

Stephen laughed and walked towards Jace. "You don't even know what that means." He said as he ruffled his head.

"Yup, no clue. Just heard you talk about it" Both of them sat down in front of the T.V.

Stephen's expression became serious as he turned to look at Jace. "I'm serious though, why don't you choose to stay here? With me?" Jace didn't say anything at first, so Stephen continued. "Clary will be going there."

Jace looked towards his dad. "That's the main reason I can't be here."

Stephen looked at his son with sympathetic eyes. "I know how it feels, to lose someone you love more than yourself." Their eyes met and Jace knew his father was thinking about his eyes, his mother's eyes.

Seven years ago, Jace's mother had died during childbirth along with his little brother. It had impacted both of them very largely, but they had moved on, together. Jace knew that it was selfish to leave his father alone, but he couldn't stay and watch Clary be with other people when he so desperately wanted to be the one with her. He just couldn't. And now with everything that happened that night and Jordan's death, he was better off away from here.

"Let's not talk about that." Jace said. He leaned back on the sofa. "Why don't you tell me about your day at work?"

Stephen chuckled. "What are you? My housewife?" Jace laughed along with him. "Well _sweetheart_ ," Jace made a face at that. "Today was… tough."

Jace looked at him in confusion. "Why was it tough? I thought you have an array of attorneys at your disposal to do the tough work for you?"

Stephen looked at Jace as if he was an idiot. Jace raised his arms. "Hey, we've already established that I don't have a clue about how your stuff works."

Stephen sighed. "It was tough because I have to work a case related to an 18 year old boy's death and all the main suspects are 18 year olds. It wouldn't have been as difficult if it weren't for the fact that whenever I see that kid's name or any one else's, my own son's face pops up in my mind."

Jace didn't hesitate for a second before he hugged his father tighty and whispered. "I'm fine dad. I'm perfectly fine."

* * *

Clary had been eating an apple when both, her father and her brother stormed into the house, in an extremely heated up argument.

"You cannot do that! I do not give you permission for it!" Her father's voice boomed in the living room.

"Captain, that's not fair! You were the one to assign me to this case! Let me follow all the leads." Her brother reasoned. None of them had noticed Clary lounging on the couch.

"She is my daughter, and she will not be dragged into this mess!" _Why were they talking about her?_ Clary thought.

Jon scoffed at him. "And she's my sister! I love her more than you ever did! Did you really think that I'm gonna let her get mixed up in this mess?"

"What mess?" Clary questioned. Her father stilled as her brother walked towards her and held her forearms.

"Clary, you need to be brought in to the station for some more questioning but dad's not allowing it."

"Jonathan!" Her father shouted, but he ignored him.

"Clare-bear, I know you know something, but I also know that you could never do anything wrong. Trust me when I say that I'll keep you out of it." He said solemnly.

Valentine shook his head. "You know Clarissa, this is all your fault. I told you that boy was of no good. He's become the main suspect and dragged you into his crimes as well."

Jon looked back at his father sending him a warning glare. "What do you mean? Who dragged me into his crimes?" Clary asked. Neither of them said anything. "Tell me!" she demanded.

Jonathan let out a breath as he said, " Sebastian Verlac is the main suspect for the murder."

Clary blinked her eyes as her apple rolled out of her hand onto the floor.

* * *

Jace and his dad were almost at the end of 'Fight Club' when his phone rang out loud, with the ringtone indicating that it was Clary. His father saw and motioned for him to take the call. Jace hesitated before his father said, "It's okay. I have to go sleep anyway." He got up and patted his back before leaving the room. Jace picked up the phone quickly.

"Hey -"

"Jace you need to come here quickly." Her voice sounded as if she was crying.

"Clary, what's wrong?" Jace asked hurriedly as he searched for his car keys.

"Nothing. Everything. I don't know. Just please come here." Her broken voice sounded out.

Jace had finally found his keys and was now moving towards his garage. "Okay don't worry, I'm coming. Just keep your room window open for me, kay?"

"Mhmm." Was all that came from her side before the phone clicked and she had cut the call.

Jace started his car and sped as fast as he could and within a few minutes, he reached Clary's house.

On the driveway, there were two cars, one was her father's and the other was her brother's. Jace parked his car a bit further from the house and got out.

He reached the side of the house and climbed up the tree that was close to it. Clary's window was open, so he took a small leap and held on to the windowsill. A small hand reached out and he grasped it, pulling himself up and into the room.

He moved in and Clary stepped away from him. He looked around her room. It was the same as it had been when he was last there. His mind instantly went to that weekend and he looked at her bed.

Clary must have been thinking the same thing as her cheeks were flushed and she was avoiding his gaze.

Jace cleared his throat. "What did you need me for?"

Clary leaned back against the wall. She looked so tiny in the huge room. "Everything's going wrong Jace. None of this was supposed to happen. At least not in the way it's happening."

Jace looked at her in doubt. "I don't understand. What was supposed to happen this way?"

Clary let out a short breath. "Of course you don't understand." It didn't sound like an accusation, it was more of an apology.

"The thing that's killing me the most is that I don't feel guilty about it. I'm glad that it happened with whom it did." She looked at Jace with tears in her eyes. "Does that make me a bad person?"

Jace took two long strided and stood in front of her. He held her chin and made her look at him. "There is nothing that will ever make you a bad person."

She shook her head, tears falling. "If you knew, you would hate me."

Jace moved closer to her. "I could never hate you. Never. The fact that I came to you at midnight proves how much you mean to me."

"I'm so sorry Jace." She started sobbing and Jace held her close to him. She clutched the front of his shirt and buried her head in the crook of his neck. He held on to her and rested his chin on her head.

She looked up at him with hazy eyes. "I'm a potential suspect in Jordan's murder." She whispered.

"Shh, you didn't do anything. You're innocent."

"That's just it Jace, we didn't do anything but we aren't innocent. And now, Sebastian's the main suspect."

Jace stilled. "What do you mean he's the main suspect?"

"No one has seen him since last Friday, so they think that he killed Jordan and ran away. What will happen once they start looking into him, Jace?" She asked.

"I don't know, but I promise, I won't let anything happen to you." Jace promised, looking into her eyes with determination.

"Can you stay the night?" Jace hesitated a bit. "Please." She sounded so desolate and lonely, he couldn't say no. He removed his shoes and slid onto the bed pulling Clary along with him. He held onto her tightly, vowing to himself to never let anything hurt her.

* * *

_He held onto Clary, his hands enclosed around her throat. Simon and Jace were both down on the ground, unable to get up. Clary held his arms and scratched him, his blood coming under her nails, but his grip didn't falter._

_She couldn't breathe. She could feel herself starting to lose consciousness as he looked at her with wild eyes._

" _I told you what would happen if I saw you with him again." He said in his cold, venomous voice. "Now, look around yourself. Just because of you, your friends are going to die. And you won't be able to save them." She had stopped thrashing. She couldn't move. "I'll save little angel boy for the end and have you watch as I cut him open right in front of you, starting with that smart brain of his, then his pretty little face and ending with that heart, which loves you so much."_

" _P-ple-ase, d-don't" She tried to speak but her throat felt like sandpaper._

_From behind him, Clary saw Isabelle stand up, stumbling, with an iron rod in her hand. She raised it and hit him on the head. Repeatedly._

_A voice came from the doorway. "Holy shit." All of them turned to find Magnus and Alec looking at them with widened eyes._

_Jace managed to get up. "Is he dead?"_

_Clary looked at him carefully. He had fallen down on the ground and laid with his eyes closed. Blood had started pooling around his head and his chest wasn't moving. "He's not breathing." She rasped._

_They all looked at the body and stood in silence. Then Alec spoke up, looking at Izzy. "What did you do?!"_

_Izzy blanched. "What did I do?! I didn't mean for this to happen!"_

_Magnus stepped forward and said. "Okay, it doesn't matter who did it, we need to get rid of everything."_

_And they did that exactly. They got rid of everything, his body, his car and his phone._

* * *

Clary jolted up in her bed as she woke up from her dream. From beside her, Jace also got up almost instantly and looked at her worriedly. "What's wrong?" He asked, sounding sleepy.

Clary gulped before she said in a low voice, "Jace we never actually checked if he had a pulse. We just assumed that he was dead."

Jace looked at her with furrowed eyebrows. "What are you trying to say?"

She was shaking in fear. "I'm trying to say that he might be alive. What if we didn't actually kill him? What if Sebastian's still alive?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just gonna leave that there.


	8. What Happened That Night?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All characters belong to Cassandra Clare
> 
> Warnings: Slight Mature Language
> 
> Word Count - 3.2 k
> 
> I admit the cliffhanger caused some confusion, but hopefully this one will clear it all.
> 
> Many scenes are from the previous chapters which were shown as a flashback. I've tried to keep them as short as possible.
> 
> Hope you enjoy it!

**The Night of the Party**

The school football stadium was packed. Students from their school, from the rival school, parents, college scouts, random people from the town, were all present to watch the last game of the season.

Clary was moving through people, trying to reach the boys locker room. She had called Jace saying that she needed to talk to him and he told her to meet her there before the game started.

As soon as she reached the locker room, she was met by Alec who had just walked out of the room. He looked down at her in confusion. "Um, hey Clary. What are you doing here?"

"Oh, I just needed to talk to Jace. Could you call him outside?" Clary asked him. Alec looked a bit unsure, but he still went inside, hopefully to call Jace outside.

Clary stood there, waiting for what felt like an eternity, wringing her hands. Finally, the door opened again and Jace came out, looking as beautiful as ever. Clary felt like hitting herself for not being able to tell Jace what she truly felt for him. It was very clear that he felt the same for her. If only she didn't have to hide from him.

"Hey Clary, everything okay? You look like you're about to pass out." He said.

"I-I need to tell you something, really important." Clary managed to say. He looked at her in confusion and then looked back towards the locker room.

"Can it wait until after the game, I really need to go." He said apologetically.

Clary's hopes deflated. "Uh, yeah, sure. Sorry. It can wait till after the game."

He smiled brightly at her. "Cheer for me out there, kay." He told her.

She just smiled back at him. It looked like she'd have to wait to tell him.

* * *

Jace went back inside the locker room and saw that almost everyone was ready for the game. He went to change into gear when suddenly someone came from behind him and clapped him on the shoulder.

"Hey Herondale! Where'd you go?" He turned around to face Sebastian Verlac, his once best friend.

"Nothing, Clary just needed to talk to me, so." Jace shrugged. He hated that someone like Sebastian had a girl as beautiful and wonderful as Clary. And he also knew that Sebastian hated it whenever Clary was with him, so Jace always ensured to rub it in Sebastian's face.

Sebastian gave him a harsh look. "Stay away from her." He snarled.

"Why?" Jace challenged. "You can't control whom she talks to. She's her own person and she can do whatever she wants. You can't stop her."

Sebastian smirked at him. "You'll see Angel Boy, I can make her do whatever I want."

Jace glowered at him but didn't reply. He knew it was of no use and would only make matters worse.

And the only thing he needed to worry about at that moment was winning the game for his school.

* * *

"Clary, are you okay?" Izzy asked from beside her. Clary looked at her, a half cookie hanging out from her mouth.

"Whuh" Izzy removed the cookie from her mouth. "What do you mean? I'm perfectly fine."

Izzy gave her a look of disbelief. "You just ate an entire packet of oatmeal cookies."

"And what's wrong with that? I was hungry." Clary said nonchalantly.

"You hate oatmeal cookies and then there's also the fact that you were in tears when you caught a whiff of them when you opened the packet." Izzy grabbed the packet from her.

Clary snatched it back. "I'm just going through a phase." She muttered.

Izzy huffed and turned her attention towards the game. They were way ahead and would clearly win.

Clary saw Jace running close to the stands and she waved at him. He couldn't wave back to her as he was pushed ahead by Sebastian, Clary's boyfriend, who waved at her instead.

Izzy let out a sound of disgust. "I can't believe you're still with him. I thought his cheating on you would be enough for you to let him go."

"He's not that bad." Clary said meekly.

"I'll believe it when I see it for myself." She stated.

Both of them didn't talk after, Clary only waiting for the game to get over so she could talk to Jace.

* * *

Everyone was shouting Jace's name. He deserved it. He did lead his team to victory, after all. He looked at his teammates and saw that all of them were with their loved ones. Their friends, families or girlfriends.

Simon was with his sister and Izzy. Alec was with Magnus and his younger brother Max.

Jace was just standing alone. His father was stuck at work and had told him prior to the game that he wouldn't be able to make it. But there was one other person who always came to Jace's games.

Clary.

He needed to tell her something very important. After his little 'talk' with Sebastian in the locker room, Jace had made up his mind to tell Clary that he loved her. Hopefully, if everything went according to his plan, they would be intensely making out the entire weekend, among other things. If not, well that's something he'll think about afterwards.

He looked around the field and stands, in hope of finding Clary, but couldn't place her. A hand slung over his shoulder, smelling like dirt and sweat.

"Sad, isn't it?" Sebastian's sour voice said. Jace ignored him and walked towards the locker room to change.

"Did you really expect her to be there for you? She already left you know." Sebastian followed him. Jace knew he was lying. Clary had probably gone outside, away from the crowd. "I don't get why you're so hungover that little slut. She willingly opens her legs for anyone but you, you know that?"

Jace's temper rose super fast. He slammed Sebastian into one of the locker's. He leaned close to him and whispered in a dangerously low voice. "Say one more word about her and I will not hesitate before killing you."

He left him before he could utter another word and left to take a shower.

* * *

Clary couldn't wait for long. She had to run to the nearest washroom because she couldn't stomach any of the food she had. Hopefully she would get a chance to talk to him in the parking lot.

The hallways were all crowded. Their victory party on school grounds had started. It was one of the only events that allowed them to have a full - blown party on school grounds without a single teacher saying anything. It was a special privilege only senior students had and Clary had always been looking forward to it.

Until now.

She came out of the washroom and started searching for Jace. She was about to enter the cafeteria when someone pulled her by the waist.

"Hey there, Red." Clary tried not to flinch. Before her stood Sebastian Verlac, her boyfriend, whom she despised. Months ago, she had gotten together with him to move on from Jace, but whenever she tried to get away from Sebastian, he would either hurt her, or threaten her by saying he would hurt Jace.

Even when she had thought that she was finally free of him, he showed up at her door and she had no other option than to welcome him with open arms.

She could've gone to her father but her father had initially warned her that he was of no good and Clary didn't listen to him. She was scared that her father would deny her any help.

"Hey Seb. Nice game, right?" Clary tried to act normal.

"It would've been if my girlfriend would've been cheering for me, rather than my best friend." He said venomously. Clary involuntarily stepped back and hit a shelf. That was when she realised they were in a closet. He frowned at her.

"What is it, Clary? Don't I love you enough?" He grabbed hold of her hair and pulled, causing Clary to whimper.

"Shouldn't happen again, understand sweetie?" When Clary didn't reply, he tugged harder on her hair. "I asked if you understood." He gritted. Clary weakly nodded her head, trying to withhold her tears.

"Good girl." Sebastian crooned. He let go of her and exited the closet.

Clary slumped back and stayed there for more than 15 minutes, catching her breath and ensuring that she didn't look like she had been crying. Her phone rang with Jace's message, telling her to meet him at the Institute, where no one would be able to trouble them.

Clary got out of the closet and saw that the hallways were more crowded than before. She started feeling sick again. She walked towards the cafeteria and ran into someone. "Oh, God. I'm so sorry!" She exclaimed when a hand held her still.

"It's okay Clary. Calm down." A jovial voice came. She looked up and saw Jordan smiling down at her. She smiled back at him.

"Thanks. And sorry once again." She started moving ahead when Jordan called her.

"You want me to drop you off somewhere?" He asked. Everyone was moving around them, minding their own business. Clary considered going home. She could tell Jace the next day. Just then, Clary's phone rang with Jace's message telling her to meet him at the Institute. She turned towards Jordan. "Um, yeah. Could you drop me off at the Institute?"

Jordan looked at her in shock. "The nuthouse that was closed down?"

Clary nodded. "That one exactly." He gave her a weird look but still motioned for her to follow him. In her peripheral she saw Maia looking at her.

Both of them went in Jordan's car, spending the entire ride in silence. When they reached, Jordan turned towards Clary. "Do you want me to wait out here? I wouldn't mind."

Clary shook her head. "No need, my brother is nearby, he said he'll come here to pick me up. Thanks for the ride, though."

She got out of the car and went into the Institute. It was dark inside and filled with dust and cobwebs. She saw Jace's silhouette near one of the doors and moved towards it.

"Jace, I need to tell you something really important and it might change a lot of things between us, but I just want to tell you that I love you." She inhaled deeply. "I have always loved you. More than anything." Jace didn't turn to look towards her and Clary thought it was probably because he didn't want to see her face. She continued speaking, "And you don't have to do anything if you don't want to, you don't need to be involved at all, but," She started breathing rapidly. "I'm pregnant." She finally declared.

Jace just stiffened. He then moved his hand and revealed a cigarette in his hand.

Clary furrowed her eyebrows. Jace hated smoking. Then her eyes widened in realisation as she figured who was standing in front of her, but before she could do anything, the man in front of her turned, revealing himself.

"Congratulations Clary!" His voice boomed around the room. "But I must say, I'm confused. How is it possible that you're pregnant when you never had sex with me, your boyfriend?" Sebastian moved closer to her and Clary saw that he had a wild look in his eyes. He snapped his fingers in front of her. "Oh yeah! That's because you cheated on him!" Clary stepped behind but her foot got caught into something and she tripped.

Sebastian moved closer into her face. "It's Angel boy's kid isn't it? Well, that can't happen now, can it? What do we do?" He tapped his finger on his chin, pretending to think. "Oh! I know!" He leaned down towards her ear and whispered, "We kill it."

* * *

Jace was exhausted and the only thing he wanted to do was go home and sleep,but he still had to talk to Clary and for that he needed to go to the Institute.

Why did he even choose that place out of all?

He was stuck talking to one of his classmates and couldn't find any way out of the conversation. He looked around hoping to find a way out.

Just then, Izzy and Simon came towards him with frowns on their face.

"Why did you call all of us to the Institute?" I zzy asked. Jace felt confusion rise through him.

"I messaged you?"

"All of us. You put it on the group. Even Alec and Magnus must have gotten it." Simon said.

"Well, have you guys seen Clary? It was actually meant for her."

"I just saw her leaving. We'll probably reach there before her if we hurry up." The three of them went outside. Isabelle and Simon went towards Simon's van and Jace moved towards his own car when Maia stopped in front of him.

"Hey Jace, congrats on the win tonight." She moves a bit closer to him.

"Thanks Maia, but I need to go. Clary's waiting for me." Jace tried to move past her but she held his arm.

"Clary just left. I saw her go with Jordan." She rolled her eyes. "I swear, she hangs out with a different guy each week."

Jace ignored the anger he felt and said, "Maia, I really need to go. Get out of my way."

Jace pushed past her and went to his car. He soon drove out of the school and towards the Institute. When he reached the entrance he only saw one car, which he couldn't recognize.

As soon as he got out of his car he heard a loud scream coming from inside the building.

He ran towards the direction of the voice. He reached the backside of the building and saw Sebastian pulling Clary back by her hair. She let out a strangled sound of pain. He looked towards Jace's direction and smiled manically. "Look who's finally joined the show."

"Let go of her!" Jace shouted at him. Clary was struggling to get released from his grip. Jace moved towards them and grabbed Sebastian's hand.

As Jace got rid of his hand from her hair, Sebastian raised his other hand and punched him in the face. He stumbled back, losing his balance. Sebastian looked at Clary with wild eyes.

"You freaking slut. Everytime, you said it was nothing, but it was all a lie, wasn't it?" He moved to grab Clary but she moved away and from behind Jace knocked into him, causing both of them to fall to the ground.

"Jace get the hell off of me!" He screamed. Jace was trying to calm him down, but he knew it was of no use. He knew it was a mistake to be out there. He could feel something wrong was about to happen.

But Jace needed to talk to Clary and the Institute was the best place to meet secretly. Unfortunately, he never thought that Sebastian would follow her.

He would've normally kept himself cool and controlled, however, when Sebastian pulled Clary by her hair, he had lost it. After that, he didn't care about anything, only the fact that Sebastian hurt Clary. He hurt Jace's Clary.

All of Jace's feelings came barreling down. How he lost Clary because of Sebastian. How Clary started avoiding him because of Sebastian. How Jace lost the most important person in his life, only because of Sebastian.

* * *

Clary couldn't get up. Her head was aching like hell and she probably had a twisted wrist and ankle. She could hear Jace and Sebastian fighting with each other, but she couldn't open her eyes.

She was just so tired.

She heard footsteps and saw Izzy and Simon coming towards them. Simon ran and tackled Sebastian, while Izzy cam and helped Clary sit up. "What the hell is going on?" Izzy asked

"I screwed up Izzy. Big time." Izzy was about to speak when she was abruptly pulled away by Sebastian. She saw something glint in his hands. Before Clary could tell Izzy what it was, Sebatian rammed the knife into Izzy's arm.

Izzy screamed out loud in pain, falling down to the floor. Behind her Simon screamed at Sebastian, using every single curse in his vocabulary. Sebastian just smiled and wiped the blood dripping from his nose. He walked towards Clary and lifted her up from where she was sitting. He enclosed his hands around her throat. She scratched his arms drawing blood but he didn't let go, only gripped her tighter.

"I told you what would happen if I saw you with him again." He said in his cold, venomous voice. "Now, look around yourself. Just because of you, your friends are going to die. And you won't be able to save them." She had stopped thrashing. She couldn't move. "I'll save little angel boy for the end and you'll have to watch as I cut him open right in front of you, starting with that smart brain of his, then his pretty little face and ending with that heart, which loves you so much."

"P-ple-ase, d-don't" She tried to speak but her throat felt like sandpaper.

From behind him, Clary saw Isabelle stand up, stumbling, with an iron rod in her hand.

She raised it and hit him on the head. Repeatedly.

A voice came from the doorway. "Holy shit." All of them turned to find Magnus and Alec looking at them with widened eyes.

Jace managed to get up. "Is he dead?"

Clary looked at him carefully. He had fallen down on the ground and laid with his eyes closed. Blood had started pooling around his head and his chest wasn't moving. "He's not breathing." She rasped.

They all looked at the body and stood in silence. Then Alec spoke up, looking at Izzy. "What did you do?!"

Izzy blanched. "What did I do?! I didn't mean for this to happen!"

Magnus stepped forward and said. "Okay, it doesn't matter who did it, we need to get rid of everything."

"Get rid, as in-"

"Yeah." He just said.

Magnus and Alec helped Simon up when Clary intervened. "Shouldn't we go to the police?"

"We can't go to the police. The only thing that will happen is that they will send us to jail." Simon told her.

Isabelle stepped in. "Maybe we can tell them it was an accident of some sort?"

All six of them look at Sebastian lying lifeless on the ground between them. "I don't think anyone is gonna accept the fact that it was an accident." Jace said in a grave voice.

"We can't just get rid of a body!" She whispered.

"No one is here. No one even knows we're here. We can safely get out of this." Jace said

Clary ran her hand through her hair. "Okay, um Simon and Alec, you can go get rid of the body. Take it where no one will look for it and even if they do, it should be a place where we won't be one of the first suspects. Jace and Izzy, get rid of his car and phone. Once Seb's found missing, the first thing the police will do is put out an APB for his car and track his phone. If they find it here, they'll be able to figure out that we were here. Magnus and I will go back to school, making sure people see us and afterwards, we all will meet at the football field okay?"

They all nod and leave, going out to do their respective duties, in hope that their actions would not lead to any further consequences, but little did they know that the game had already been set in motion and the countdown had started.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like it? Hate it? Let me know!
> 
> So, if they actually killed Sebastian, how did the police find Jordan? And what game do you think is going to start?
> 
> Get ready, the real story begins in the next chapter!


	9. We're Not Murderers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All characters belong to Cassandra Clare
> 
> Warnings: Slight Mature Language
> 
> Word Count - 1.2 k
> 
> So, a lot of you were confused about how Jordan ended up dead when Sebastian was the one whom they actually killed. Well, that's just part of the mystery!
> 
> Yes, Clary is pregnant and only Alec and Magnus know about it. (Also Maia!) She cannot tell Jace about it because there's already so much going on, she doesn't want to burden him with more stuff.
> 
> And regarding Jace and Alec's friendship, yes, I will be writing more about them in the further chapters.

Clary woke up with arms wrapped around her. She looked up and saw Jace looking at her with careful eyes. She knew he was thinking about what she had said the night before.

"Morning." She said softly. He looked away, lying flat on his back.

"I have to go. We'll be late for school." He said as he got up. Clary held onto his arm, stopping him.

"You can wear one of Jon's clothes that he's left behind." Jace didn't look back at her. "Please don't go."

"Clary, I don't know if I can do this anymore. One moment, you're all nice to me and the other, you're avoiding me." He still wasn't looking at her.

"Jace…"

"No Clary. I can't take it. You know I love you! And now, when we're all alone, you want me to stay here with you but what about when we reach school?" He turned his head towards her. "When we're in front of people, will you act as if I'm nothing but the dust under your shoe? Or will we actually be friends in front of everyone."

Clary rubbed her eyes with her palms. She couldn't face this right now.

"Jace, can we please not do this? You're my best friend and-"

"Am I really? Because it certainly doesn't feel like it. You don't have sex with your best friends. You don't ignore your best friend for some guy who was literally assaulting you."

"I didn't ignore you for him. It was because I was scared of him!"

Jace turned to look at her and Clary fell back on her bed. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing Jace. You're right, we'll be late for school."

Jace laughed humorlessly. "See, this is exactly what I meant. You're unbelievable."

He got up and left Clary's room, knowing that her father had probably left. Clary rolled over in her bed, hitting herself with a pillow for being as stupid as she was.

* * *

School sucked.

Jace had managed to drag himself to his classes and it was finally lunch time.

He had stayed up for the better half of the night wondering about what Clary had said. What if Sebastian was still alive? Maybe he's the one who's sending them messages.

And how did Jordan die and end up in the exact same dumpster as Seb?

It was way too weird to even think about.

And instead, his mind decided to think about the girl that had been sleeping beside him. When he had reached the institute, Sebastian had already attacked Clary. And Jace didn't even know the reason.

He knew Sebastian was short tempered, but even he wouldn't strike without reason. There was definitely something that Clary was hiding from him and he intended to figure it out.

He sat on the cafeteria table and saw Izzy sitting in front of him with a weird look in her eyes. "Hey Izzy." She instantly jumped up at the mention of her name. "Are you okay?"

Izzy nodded. "Yeah, I'm perfect. Why? Did someone tell you something?"

"Um… No?" He said. "Is there something you know?" He questioned.

"Me? What? No! Not at all!" She started laughing in a weird way. "Why would you think that?"

"Why would he think what?" Came a familiar voice from beside him.

"Nothing." Jace said in a cold voice. He heard Clary release a sigh and walk and sit beside Izzy.

"Clary, that's my seat." Simon said as he walked towards their table.

"Well now it's mine." She snapped.

Izzy gave her a confused look and Simon raised his eyebrows. "I swear Clary, you're as moody as a pregnant woman."

Clary widened her eyes and Alec started coughing loudly.

Simon looked at all them with his eyebrows furrowed. "What? It's true."

Alec started coughing louder and Magnus glared at him. Clary just sat frozen on her seat, looking at her tray.

Izzy looked at Jace and he just shrugged.

"Anyway…" Izzy started. "Are any of you going to Aline's party tomorrow?" She looked at all them warily.

Jace thought about it. Maybe the party would be a good distraction for them. "I'll go. In fact, I think all of us should go because if we don't it might just make things suspicious.

"I'm in." Clary chimed from beside Izzy. Jace gave her a look of doubt.

"Okay, we'll be going as well." Magnus said while patting Alec on the back. Alec just gave a thumbs up and continued eating his food while avoiding Clary's gaze.

Jace knew that they were hiding something, and he would definitely find out what.

* * *

Friday had probably been one of the worst days in the entire week for Clary, and saying that meant a lot, as she had also been interrogated by her brother and had gotten a threatening message from an anonymous source.

And now she had to go to a wretched party.

Izzy had offered to help her get ready and they would go together. Clary had noticed that Izzy had been acting weird since yesterday. She was more jumpy than usual and she wasn't as enthusiastic to go to this party as usual.

"Izzy you okay?" She looked at Clary as she was wearing her sandals. She gave a sad smile.

"Just feels a bit weird to be going to a party, considering what happened at the last one we attended." Clary shuddered at the thought. She still hadn't told anyone that the police had found Jordan's body in the place of Sebastian's and Sebastian was a suspect, along with herself.

She also hadn't shared the fact that she thought Sebastian was still alive.

"Well, the police found the body on Tuesday. If they would've found something leading to us, they would've taken us by now." Clary said, trying to reassure her.

"Yeah, but I heard your brother came to school a few days ago. Do you know anything about it?" Izzy stood up from her seat, arranging her dress.

Clary played with a loose strand on her top. "No, I haven't talked to Jon that much. He might've come for Jordan's case? He still hasn't been found."

Izzy made a frown. "I don't know. Something tells me Jordan won't be coming back."

Clary instantly looked up at Izzy. "Why would you say that?"

She shrugged. "It's just, we know that Jordan isn't one of the kind of people who gets kidnapped. He either ran away or killed himself."

"What if he was murdered?" Clary whispered.

Izzy gave her a blank look. "Clary, I'm pretty sure there was only one murderer active that night." Clary saw Izzy raise her hand to where her knife wound.

"We're not murderers." Clary muttered.

Izzy shrugged again. "Po-tay-to, po-tah-to."

Clary rolled her eyes. "Come on let's go. Or else we'll be late."

Izzy flashes her a smile. "We'll be fashionably late." Clary smiles at her and gets up from her seat, walking out of her room.

Ten minutes later, they were off to the party which could most possibly be their last.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this is a short chapter, but the original draft turned out to be very long, so I cut it down a bit.
> 
> Hope you liked it!


	10. Let's Party!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All characters belong to Cassandra Clare
> 
> Warnings: Slight Mature Language, Alcohol Consumption
> 
> Word Count - 2.4k
> 
> I am really sorry for the delay.
> 
> The real story begins now. Get ready. 😈😈

Aline Penhallow's house was clustered with people who were drunk off of their asses. There was music blasting at the highest volume and her house was brightly lit up. Clary walked in and was hit with the strong stench of sweat and various types of cologne.

She walked further inside with Izzy right behind her and stopped when she saw Magnus standing with Alec in the corner.

"I need a drink." Izzy said as she moved past Clary towards the counter where drinks were kept. "You want?" She asked Clary.

Clary shook her head. "Not really in the mood." Izzy shrugged and poured a drink for herself.

Clary started looking around the room when Alec spoke up. "He's not here yet. His cousin's come over so he's bringing him here."

Clary raised both her eyebrows. "His cousin?"

Alec and Magnus both smirked. "Yeah, he's here for the summer I guess." Magnus said as he waved his hand. "Oh, there they come." Magnus pointed behind Clary and she turned around. Jace walked up towards them, wearing jeans and a white t-shirt with wet golden hair.

Beside him, his exact opposite, William Herondale walked with black jeans paired with a black button down shirt, sleeves rolled up to his forearms. His dark hair was all messy and his dark blue eyes shone brightly with amusement.

"Clary!" He said as he held his arms out. Clary walked up to him and hugged him tightly. "Is it me, or have you shrunk in size? Is that even possible?" Clary broke apart from him and punched him on his arm playfully, which caused him to laugh.

"Aah, William. Couldn't stay away from me, could you?" Magnus said from behind her.

Will smirked at him. "Why yes, Magnus, I couldn't bear to remain another day away from your alluring charm."

"What are you doing here?" Clary asked.

Will looked down at her and answered. "Well, I'm here to intern at the DA's office. Uncle Stephen offered. And I'm here to watch this nimrod graduate." He looked beside him where Jace had been standing, which was empty now. Will furrowed his eyebrows and looked ahead with raised eyebrows. "Who is apparently drowning himself in alcohol."

Clary followed Will's gaze and saw Jace chugging an entire bottle of Jack. She bit her lip and frowned.

Will bent down and whispered in her ear. "Is he okay? He's been acting weird since we left the house." Clary frowned and shrugged. "Was he friends with that Jordan kid?" Clary snapped her eyes up to Will's.

"How do you know about that?"

He shrugged. "Uncle Stephen told me about it."

"Oh. Well, no. He wasn't close to Jordan."Clary paused before subtly adding, "He was friend's with Sebastian Verlac though."

Will's eyebrows shot up and then instantly came down to normal. "Another missing kid, right?" Clary nodded her eyes and internally groaned. She should've known that Will wouldn't reveal anything. He was way too smart for that.

Will sighed. "Well, I think I should go handle that wannabe alcoholic. Let's party!" He said sarcastically and moved towards Jace, while Clary walked in the opposite direction, looking for Isabelle.

* * *

Jace was drowning his sorrows in alcohol. And he felt slightly buzzed. The last time he had drunk that much was he had been Sebastian. He had been going on and on about Clary and Jace couldn't take it anymore. So he went to the best option present. Alcohol.

And now, he needed it to not think about how Clary looked in her crop top and shorts. And also how she completely ignored him when he entered, only caring about Will.

Yes, Jace Herondale was jealous.

He knew it was really pathetic but it really wasn't in his control. Just as he slammed the empty bottle down on the counter, someone came and slapped him on the back. "Wow. I think that was the fastest I've ever seen someone finish an entire bottle of whiskey." Jace ignored his cousin as he started moving towards the couch where a group of people were already seated. Before he could move further, Will pulled him back and turned him, so that he was facing Jace.

"What's wrong Jace? You've been acting all weird." Will placed his hands on Jace's shoulders.

"It's nothing. Just last high school party things probably. Who knows?" Jace replied with a shrug.

"That's bullshit and you know it. There are going to be way more parties after this in the summer. You can get drunk whenever you want."

Jace couldn't help but look in the direction of Clary, who was standing with a red cup in her hand and laughing with Simon.

"Oh…" Will looked where Jace was looking. "It's about Clary, isn't it?" When Jace doesn't answer, he shakes his head. "It's always a girl. I know how it feels." He reassuringly patted Jace on the back.

Jace scowled at him. "Of course you do. Remind me when's the wedding again? Winter?"

Will gave him a smirk. "Next spring actually. And it wasn't all hearts and roses with Tess and I." Jace snorted which caused Will to give him a serious look. "I'm serious, Jace. I went through all of this as well. And somehow, I managed to get the girl I love with my whole heart." Then Will straightens up and smiles devilishly. "Which is why, I will help you. I am going to teach you how to use the perfect Herondale charm that we've inherited. Come on." Jace rolled his eyes but still followed Will, hoping his cousin would find a way to make him less miserable.

* * *

Alec Lightwood had no reason at all to be at the party. It was common knowledge that he did not like interacting with people, that's why no one even thought of bothering him or his boyfriend.

"Hey faggots!" Except for one person.

Magnus groaned whereas Alec just rolled his eyes. "Ignore it and it'll go away." Magnus told him. Alec would have willingly followed, if she hadn't grabbed his wrist.

"I was talking to you." Alec spun and saw Maia standing there, with her eyes narrow and teeth gritted.

"And we were about to ignore you." Alec retorted, snatching his hand away from her grasp.

"Look, I have no interest in hanging out with your gay community." Maia said when Magnus butted in with a cough. "Freewheeling bisexual."

Maia rolled her eyes. "Whatever. I just wanted to know where the knocked up twat was."

Alec crossed his arms. "Why should we tell you?"

Maia smiled at him villainously. "You see, if you don't tell me, I'll tell everyone what you all did to Jordan."

Alec looked back at Magnus who had arched an eyebrow. Alec looked at Maia and answered with a smug smile, "You can do whatever the hell you want, I won't tell you where Clary is. Not that I know." He added.

Maia huffed out a breath and stormed away from them.

"Should we warn Clary?" Magnus asked and Alec shrugged.

"I don't think that would be necessary. It's not like she's going to do something with so many people here. And she clearly thinks that we had something to do with Jordan's death, so she isn't that much of a threat."

Magnus sighed and placed his hand on Alec's shoulder. "If you say so, Alexander, if you say so."

* * *

Isabelle Lightwood had not remembered the last time she had been scared. Probably the one time when she had jumped off a cliff and fell in a lake when she was 12.

But that had been fear combined with adrenaline. The kind of fear she was facing now was more of a gut wrenching type. Obviously, she had no reason to be scared.

There had been no follow ups after the message she had received on Thursday. There was nothing to be afraid of.

"Isabelle Lightwood!" A voice called. She whipped her head, glass to her mouth and saw Will Herondale walking towards her with a very sad looking Jace beside him. Clary straightened beside her.

"William!" Izzy said loudly as she spread her arms, pulling him in for a hug. "I'm shocked you didn't call me Lightworm" She narrowed her eyes at him.

"Aah, see, that name is reserved for special types of assholes." Will said as he laughed. Izzy knew he was talking about her cousin Gabriel Lightwood.

"Congrats on the engagement man." Simon said as he came up and shook Will's hand.

Will smiled to himself. "Thanks, it's planned for next spring."

Izzy nudged him with her elbow. "Ooh, is that a blush I see Mr. Herondale?" Will just shaked his head and turned towards Jace.

"Jace, don't you have something to say to someone?" Jace looked at him blankly.

"Um, hi?"

Will rolled his eyes and face palmed himself. "Wow, you're hopeless." He muttered to himself.

Suddenly, both Izzy and Clary's phone buzzed with a new message. Izzy looked at the message and widened her eyes.

_**First floor, room to the left of the bathroom.** _

_**I'm waiting.** _

Izzy didn't think about it. She would go there and face the person who was sending her the texts. She knew she shouldn't go alone, but it might've been the alcohol which gave her the courage to think that she could handle whoever it was on her own.

Beside her, Clary looked perfectly fine. Maybe the text to her wasn't related to Sebastian's death.

"Hey, I feel really exhausted. So, I think I'm gonna crash in one of the rooms until we're ready to leave." Izzy said with a smile.

Simon frowned. "We can leave if you want."

Izzy waved it off. "There's no need. I'll be in the room on the left of the bathroom on the first floor."

With that she walked upstairs, with no idea of what was coming for her.

* * *

Jace had no idea where he was or what he was doing. All he knew was that he was drunk.

Extremely drunk.

He had been leaning against his cousin the entire time he had been there. He had also probably flirted with a lot of girls, but he couldn't remember any of it.

"When you asked me if I wanted to go to a party, this is not what I had in mind." Will said with a sour tone to his voice.

Jace smirked at him. "One of the best you've ever come to?"

Will shot him a blank look. "I'm in college. I can pretty much assure you I've seen better than this."

"Then what is it?" Jace said as he stumbled. Will released an aggravated sigh. "This. You. Me having to take care of you." Jace gives him a perplexed look.

"Listen numbnut." Jace frowned at the name. "I had expected a night of relaxation and enjoyment before I had to run myself ragged at your father's office." Jace rolled his eyes. "Jace, look at yourself. This is pathetic. You can have any girl you want, but you're ruining yourself over one single girl."

Jace narrowed his eyes at him. "You're such a hypocrite. And I don't want any girl." Jace said stubbornly.

"Of course you don't." Will said. He ran his hand through his hair. "We Herondale men do have a special ability of getting our lives fu-" He was cut off by a loud shriek. Both Will and Jace looked at each other and ran towards the direction of the scream.

There was a crowd gathered around something. When Jace saw the scene in front of him, he immediately sobered up.

"Oh fuck." Will gasped from beside him. Alec, Magnus and Simon came towards him in a rush and the three of them had similar reactions to the body that lay in front of them.

"Someone call an ambulance!" Someone shouted from the corner. Jace couldn't breathe. He felt someone's hands on his shoulder, turning him around. His eyes met with Alec's, which were also wide with worry.

"Where is Clary?"

Jace didn't answer, he just turned his head and looked into the lifeless eyes of Maia Roberts that glared back at him. Alec shook him once more. "Jace, where is she? We need to find her."

Jace blinked and looked at Alec. He opened his mouth to answer when he heard another scream. This one sounded extremely familiar to him.

Jace instantly shot off, following Clary's scream.

* * *

Clary ignored all the people running out of the house. She knew something was wrong. But things were much worse for her.

She needed to tell someone.

She went in search for Isabelle, avoiding all of the chaos around her. She reached the room where Izzy had told them she would go and knocked on it. "Izzy, it's Clary. Can I come in?" Instead of a reply she heard a soft whimper come from inside.

Clary knocked on the door once more. "Izzy, I know you're in there. I really need to talk to you." She leaned against the door. She was about to leave when she heard a crash sound from inside.

Clary knocked louder and started punching at the door. Then she realised that she hadn't checked the doorknob. When she turned it, it gave away and the door opened.

Ckary barged inside but could not see anything as it was pitch black inside. She could only see the silhouette of someone standing on top of another person, lying on the ground.

"Hey!" Clary shouted at the person.

The person started to make a run for it but Clary ran up and caught their arm. She gripped onto it tightly, that she was sure her nails had marked it. The person raised their hand and Clary could see it wasn't empty. She widened her eyes and tried to move back, but the person was gripping her tightly. Clary screamed out loudly. The person quickly hit her on the head with whatever was in their hand.

Clary's hands instantly went to her head and she could feel it was wet with blood. She heard footsteps from outside. The person had let go of her and had jumped out of the window.

"Clary!" Someone called out. _No, not someone, Jace,_ Clary figured.

Clary saw her vision blackening at the edges and she felt herself fall into complete darkness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, what do you think happened to Clary and Izzy and who was in the room with them? And what about Maia? And how do you think Will's appearance will affect them all?


End file.
